The Global Distribution System (GDS): A fundamental network in the Travel industry

GDS, or Global Distribution System, is a computerized system that powerfully assists the transactions between travel service businesses and travel agents.

Digital transformation is taking place worldwide steadily in almost every field. Travel and Tourism industry is no exception, which leads to the significant innovation of travel and hospitality app development. And due to the rapid rise in market demands, GDS is becoming a core reservation method for travel agents in order to offer the best-qualified service.

According to an up-to-dated statistic, there are more than 600,000 travel agents now integrating GDS to their operating system for the bookings of tours, flights, accommodations, and more every day.

So let’s take a look into the GDS to see how this innovative solution can facilitate the transaction process in the travel industry.

How does GDS work?

Even if you have never heard about the Global Distribution System or GDS term, you probably used the GDS at least once for your travel booking.

The GDS covers all the data of availability, inventory rates, offers in real-time of hotel rooms, airline, car rental, bus tickets, and many other travel services. They are centralized in web application development service with global reservation functionality and a high-unified process.

Travel agents and travellers will access data through the GDS platform to check the availability, compare among various options, and finally schedule their tour or complete a reservation within minutes. As including all travel services in need on one platform, GDS prevents the inconvenience and latency of booking each service separately. Especially for travel agents, GDS also sends reminders of special deal rates, limited sale, or promotion packages for their higher incentive.

Each GDS network will be developed with a different set of data segmentation, rates, connection, sign up requirements, depending on the demand of the provider.

Why is the Global Distribution System important?

Before the development of GDS, airline reservationists had to book and manage all flight bookings manually, which was labor-intensive and time-wasting. And Sabre travel software development, the initial GDS in the world, was introduced as the solution for those problems.

The GDS now plays a crucial role in the fast growth of the travel industry. Notably, it is becoming one of the major distribution channels of almost all airlines, hotels, and other rental companies thanks to its below advantages

Automated management

Most travel agents prefer to book through the Global Distribution system with a suitable process for different travel services. It is also the GDS that promotes the business models of retail travel agencies and OTA (online travel agency).

The sophisticated system allows you to classify and manage a tremendous amount of your services’ data in one automated management platform. The system, for example, then will automatically display the inventories as well as record the reservation for clients.

Worldwide distribution

The use of GDS among global travel agents is rapidly growing every year. And one reason is that the GDS is a particularly effective method to attract international travelers or tourists.

With the GDS, travel agents can make their services available to customers around the world through the Internet, which helps to achieve more substantial global market penetration. It is supposed to be a more effective way than efforts in direct marketing.

Real-time experience

The unique selling point of this system is the capability to update the real-time status of all services in the network.

The GDS allows travel agents to view information, compare various options, and then make purchases in just a few minutes. Travel agents can update all the rates changes immediately to suggest the newest package offer for customers and their journeys.

Especially for OTAs, real-time travel shopping definitely makes customers feel more convenient and increases the transparency of pricing and transactions through the online channel.

What are the leading GDSs in the Travel industry?

Global Distribution Systems are widely spreading out the whole world with various data management to target different goals for travel services partners. Starting from a GDS flight booking system software, there are now four principal systems leading the industry:

Sabre GDS

Sabre GDS is one of the first GDS in the world. This data-driven system was developed to serve America Airline’s internal reservation. But eventually, it became an integration solution for bookings of airlines, hotels, tours, rail carriers, car rentals, and cruise.

Sabre software for travel agents is considered as a revolution in the Travel Industry, which led to the creation of several GDS.

Amadeus GDS

For over 30 years, Amadeus has been operating in nearly 200 markets all over the world. The Amadeus system stands out for crucial software development solutions of airlines, accommodation providers, travel agents, and more.

Worldspan GDS

Worldspan GDS provides a typical travel ticketing system. The network is one of the distribution channels for corporates, travel portals, travel agents, and airline websites. It also offers interactive shopping tools with data reports of rates and pricing, along with reservation and booking technologies.

Galileo GDS

Galileo also allows global agents to sell tickets, book hotel accommodation or book car hire within an innovative computer reservation software.

The future of GDS

Instead of being a system that is only used by travel management enterprises, the GDS is expected to evolve into a “direct corporate booking tool” by 2020. Technology will improve engines to focus on specific interests like leisure or corporate travel. Integration methodologies can integrate functions like booking or in-flight processes. Data from GDS is also more practical and helpful for travel agents.

Conclusion

The Global Distribution System is contributing to the growth of the travel industry with speed, accuracy, and security in bookings and reservations. In the future, the GDS networks are expected to expand more widely. And adapting to GDSs is absolutely the most innovative solution for travel services providers to go worldwide and acquire their customers.